Historical anecdotes and breakthroughs of histamine: from discovery to date

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Alexandros Charitos ◽  
Francesca Castellaneta ◽  
Luigi Santacroce ◽  
Lucrezia Bottalico
Keyword(s):  
Mast Cells ◽  
Treatment Guidelines ◽  
Allergic Diseases ◽  
History Of ◽  
Museum Archives ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
New Research ◽  
Preclinical And Clinical Studies ◽  
Historical References

Aim: Investigating about the history of allergies and discovery of the histamine’s role in the immune response through historical references, starting with ancient anecdotes, analysing the first immunization attempts on animals to understand its importance as the anaphylaxis mediator. Moreover, we shortly resume the most recent discoveries on mast cell role in allergic diseases throughout the latest updates on its antibody-independent receptors. Methods: Publications, including reviews, treatment guidelines, historical and medical books, on the topic of interest were found on Medline, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Elsevier’s (EMBASE.comvarious internet museum archives. Texts from the National Library of Greece (Stavros Niarchos Foundation), from the School of Health Sciences of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece). We selected key articles which could provide an historical and scientific insight into histamine molecule and its mechanism of action’s discovery starting with Egyptian, Greek and Chinese antiquity to end with the more recent pharmacological and molecular discoveries. Results: Allergic diseases were described by medicine since ancient times, without exactly understanding physio-pathologic mechanisms of immuno-mediated reactions and of their most important biochemical mediator, histamine. Researches on histamine and allergic mechanisms started at the beginning of the 20th century with the first experimental observations on animals of anaphylactic reactions. Histamine was then identified as their major mediator of many allergic diseases and anaphylaxis, but also of several physiologic body’s functions, and its four receptors were characterized. Modern researches focus their attention on the fundamental role of the antibody-independent receptors of mast cells in allergic mechanisms, such as MRGPRX2, ADGRE2 and IL-33 receptor. Conclusion: New research should investigate how to modulate immunity cells activity in order to better investigate possible multi-target therapies for host’s benefits in preclinical and clinical studies on allergic diseases in which mast cells play a major role.

scholarly journals Ernst von Leyden (1832–1910): a pioneer in making oncology a respected medical discipline

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Voswinckel ◽  
Nils Hansson
Keyword(s):  
International Association ◽  
German Society ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Medical Discipline ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Socialists ◽  
New Research ◽  
German Physician

Abstract Purpose This article presents new research on the role of the renowned German physician Ernst von Leyden (1832–1910) in the emergence of oncology as a scientific discipline. Methods The article draws on archival sources from the archive of the German Society of Haematology and primary and secondary literature. Results Leyden initiated two important events in the early history of oncology: the first international cancer conference, which took place in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1906, and the founding of the first international association for cancer research (forerunner of today's UICC) in Berlin in 1908. Unfortunately, these facts are not mentioned in the most recent accounts. Both had a strong impact on the professionalization of oncology as a discipline in its own right. Conclusion Although not of Jewish origin, von Leyden was considered by the National Socialists to be “Jewish tainted”, which had a lasting effect on his perception at home and abroad.

scholarly journals ALIAmides Update: Palmitoylethanolamide and Its Formulations on Management of Peripheral Neuropathic Pain

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona D’Amico ◽  
Daniela Impellizzeri ◽  
Salvatore Cuzzocrea ◽  
Rosanna Di Paola
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Neuropathic Pain ◽  
Mast Cells ◽  
Inflammatory Responses ◽  
Bioactive Lipids ◽  
Peripheral Neuropathic Pain ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Preclinical And Clinical Studies ◽  
Somatosensory Nervous System

Neuropathic pain results from lesions or diseases of the somatosensory nervous system and it remains largely difficult to treat. Peripheral neuropathic pain originates from injury to the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and manifests as a series of symptoms and complications, including allodynia and hyperalgesia. The aim of this review is to discuss a novel approach on neuropathic pain management, which is based on the knowledge of processes that underlie the development of peripheral neuropathic pain; in particular highlights the role of glia and mast cells in pain and neuroinflammation. ALIAmides (autacoid local injury antagonist amides) represent a group of endogenous bioactive lipids, including palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), which play a central role in numerous biological processes, including pain, inflammation, and lipid metabolism. These compounds are emerging thanks to their anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperalgesic effects, due to the down-regulation of activation of mast cells. Collectively, preclinical and clinical studies support the idea that ALIAmides merit further consideration as therapeutic approach for controlling inflammatory responses, pain, and related peripheral neuropathic pain.

The Donation of Zeno: St. Barnabas and the Modern History of the Cypriot Archbishop's Regalia Privileges

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 713-745
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Huffman
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Travel Literature ◽  
Church History ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Patron Saint ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research

Modern church historians have roundly accepted the ancient pedigree of imperial regalia privileges exercised by the archbishops of Cyprus, yet new research has shown that their origins are actually to be found in the mid-sixteenth century and within a decidedly western intellectual and ecclesial orbit. This article builds on such findings by documenting the modern history of these privileges and their relationship to the emerging political role of the archbishops of Cyprus as ethnarchs as well as archbishops of the Cypriot community under both Ottoman and British empires. Travelling across the boundaries of western and non-western cultures and employing a rich interdisciplinary array of evidence (chronicles, liturgy and liturgical vestments, hagiography, iconography, insignia, painting, cartography, diplomacy, and travel literature), this article presents a coherent reconstruction of the imperial regalia tradition's modern historical evolution and its profound impact on modern Cypriot church history. This study integrates the often compartmentalized English, French, Italian, German, and Greek scholarship of many subfields, producing a new holistic understanding of how the archbishop's ethnarchic aspirations could produce a spiritual culture in which St. Barnabas, the island's founding patron saint and once famous apostolic reconciler, became transformed into an ethnarchic national patriot and defender against foreign conquerors.

scholarly journals Greek demons who murdered children

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislava Igorevna Makeeva
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Sudden Infant ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Murdered Children

This article describes the Ancient Greek mythological characters who were attributed with murdering children: Lamia (Λάμια), Mormo (μορμώ) and Gello (γελλώ).The ssuperstitions associated with these demons remain in Greece to this day, although their images have undergone certain transformation. The object of this research is the mythological representations of the Ancient Greeks, while the subject is demons who murdered children. The goal of this article is to determine the role of children's horror stories in life of the Ancient Greek society. The author reviews the facts testifying to the existence of characters as Lamia, Mormo, Gello and Empusa in the Greek and Roman texts, as well gives characteristics to their images based on the comparative analysis. The conducted analysis reveals the common traits of the demons who murdered children: frightening appearance, combination of human and animal traits, ability to transform, identification with Hecate, as well as the story of the failed motherhood underlying the history of emergence of the demon. The key functions of these mythological characters consisted in explanation of the sudden infant and maternal mortality typical to the ancient times, as well as teaching children and adults a lesson. The first could be frightened with such stories, and the latter had to learn from the tale that demonstrates the harm of reckless following the temptations or refusal of fulfilling the prescribed social roles, socially acceptable behavior.

scholarly journals Prerequisites for the Development of Regional Studies in Japan within the Framework of Japanese Traditional Science

REGIONOLOGY ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-302
Author(s):  
Evgeny V. Kremnyov ◽  
Vladimir V. Ananiev
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Poetic Texts ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Historical Periods

Introduction. The variety of elements of the field of regional studies in Japan makes it possible to state that the sources of regional studies are heterogeneous not only in content, but also in their relation to different historical periods. The objective of the study is to analyze the processes of development of proto-regional knowledge in Japan from ancient times until the middle of the 19th century Materials and Methods. Japanese works on history and geography, as well as works by Russian researchers in the considered fields were used as the materials of the study. Particular attention was paid to historical and geographical texts; other sources (religious texts, poetic texts, etc.) were also considered. The basic methods employed were those of systemic, comparative, conceptual and terminological analysis. Results. The article discusses the stages of development of proto-regional knowledge in Japan in the framework of traditional science. Based on the analysis of works created before the middle of the 19th century, the authors conclude that the basic factor in the formation and development of knowledge about regions was the opposition “We vs. Others,” characteristic of Japanese ethnoculture, and this knowledge itself is largely Japanocentric. The article reveals the role of several schools of traditional science: kokugaku (school of national sciences), rangaku / yogaku (Dutch / European studies) and kangaku (school of Chinese sciences), as well as the role of their cultural and ideological confrontation in stimulating the development of proto-regional knowledge. Discussion and Conclusion. The article presents the results of the initial stage of a comprehensive study, which will examine the history of the development of Japanese regional knowledge and the methodology of regional research in Japan. The results of the work may be useful to researchers and specialists in the field of history of regional development of various countries and regions.

The Middle East in World History

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Obert Voll
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
World History ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Other World ◽  
Specific Label ◽  
Broad Region

This article describes the role of the Middle East in world history. The Middle East is both a strategic concept and a geo-cultural region. As a concept and a specific label of identification, it is a product of analysts writing about twentieth-century world affairs. However, as a region, its peoples and cultures are associated with the history of humanity from ancient times. This regional name itself shapes a way of understanding the history of the broad region of Southwestern Asia and Northern Africa. Both of the terms in the name — ‘Middle’ and ‘East’ — identify the region in relationship to other world regions and reflect the importance of the region's involvement in broader global historical processes. Along with examining the history of the region, the discussion also notes how the concepts of the historical units involved in that history have changed in the presentations of the history of the Middle East.

scholarly journals Anchoring Innovation: A Classical Research Agenda

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ineke Sluiter
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Revolving Door ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
American Constitution ◽  
Electric Cars ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
History Of ◽  
Roman Antiquity ◽  
New Research

Several periods in classical (Greco-Roman) antiquity provide an intriguing mix of being ‘in the grip of the past’ and profoundly innovative in all societal domains at the same time. A new research agenda of the Dutch classicists investigates this combination, under the hypothesis that the two are connected. Successful innovations must somehow be ‘anchored’ for the relevant social group(s). This paper explores the new concept of ‘anchoring’, and some of the ways in which ‘the new’ and ‘the old’ are evaluated and used in classical antiquity and our own times. Its examples range from a piece of ancient theatrical equipment to the history of the revolving door, from an ornamental feature of Greek temples to the design of electric cars, and from the Delphic oracle to the role of the American constitution.

scholarly journals The Shifting Origins of International Law

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
IGNACIO DE LA RASILLA DEL MORAL
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
Global Age ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of International Law ◽  
New Research

AbstractBoth state-centrism and Eurocentrism are under challenge in international law today. This article argues that this double challenge is mirrored back into the study of the history of international law. It examines the effects of the rise of positivism as a method of norm-identification and the role of methodological nationalism upon the study of the history of international law in the modern foundational period of international law. It extends this by examining how this bequeathed a double exclusionary bias regarding time and space to the study of the history of international law as well as a reiterative focus on a series of canonical events and authors to the exclusion of others such as those related to the Islamic history of international law. It then analyses why this state of historiographical affairs is changing, highlighting intra-disciplinary developments within the field of the history of international law and the effects that the ‘international turn in the writing of history’ is having on the writing of a new history of international law for a global age. It concludes with a reflection on some of the tasks ahead, providing a series of historiographical signposts for the history of international law as a field of new research.

scholarly journals Mast cells in collagen diseases

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Naoya Mikita ◽  
Yutaka Inaba ◽  
Takashi Yoshimasu ◽  
Nobuo Kanazawa ◽  
Fukumi Furukawa
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Mast Cells ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Lupus Erythematosus ◽  
Allergic Diseases ◽  
Local Inflammation ◽  
Systemic Lupus ◽  
Cytokines And Chemokines

Mast cells are involved in many immune reactions and diseases through 1) the expressions of several receptors, 2) productions of various mediators such as histamine, cytokines, and chemokines, 3) direct interactions with immune cells. Besides allergic diseases, mast cells have been also assumed to be involved in autoimmune diseases such as bullous pemphigoid, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. Moreover, several studies reported the involvement of mast cells in collagen disease. In this article, we review recent findings about the role of mast cells especially in systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis. In these diseases, mast cells seem to be involved in local inflammation and tissue damage partially in the targeted organ rather than the development of autoimmunity including production of autoantibodies.

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